What is it? This is a Miranda Sensomat 35mm SLR camera made by the Japanese Miranda Camera corporation. Although marketed as a budget model, the Sensomat line of cameras featured several features found in much more expensive cameras such as an interchangeable prism and stop down TTL metering. The Miranda…
What is it? This is a Kodak Retina IIa rangefinder camera built by Kodak AG, the German subsidiary of the Eastman Kodak company. Kodak released a series of German built Retina cameras starting with the original Retina in 1934, all the way through the non-folding Retina S2 in 1969. Throughout…
What is it? This is a Kiev 4 (Type 3) rangefinder camera made by Kiev Arsenal in Kiev, Ukraine, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union. Today, there is a whole sub-genre of cameras made in the Former Soviet Union which are popular with collectors. The common…
What is it? The front plate on this camera says it is an AGFA B2 Commander, which is a folding camera from the 1940s that takes 120 roll film and uses scale focus. Beyond that, I have struggled to find more information about this little camera online. What little I…
This is a Pentax Sv 35mm SLR film camera made by the Asahi Optical Company, based in Tokyo, Japan. The significant feature of the Sv is it’s inclusion of a self-timer which was not available on earlier models. It was one the last models of the Pentax S-series and was…
What is it? This is a Minolta XG7 (Minolta refers to it as an XG-7 on paper, but the camera’s name plate says XG7) which is a manual focus 35mm SLR camera introduced in 1977. The name XG7 refers to a model sold in the United States only. Minolta sold…
As my collection of old cameras grows, I feel as though I have learned a few things along the way. There are many sites on the ‘net from people like me who collect and talk about their cameras, so I thought it might be beneficial for anyone considering getting into…
What is it? This is a Wards am551 rangefinder camera sold by the Montgomery Wards chain of department stores. This camera is a rebadged Konica Auto S2 which was a very nice Japanese rangefinder of the mid 60s. Back in those days, it was common for major American department stores…
This is a Yashica-Mat twins lens reflex (TLR) camera made by Yashima Optical Company in 1957. Although not considered to be a direct copy, the Yashica-Mat took a lot of design and features from the German Rolleiflex TLR such as the auto-cocking shutter and folding advance lever. It uses 120…
What is it? This is a Yashica Electro 35 GS electronically controlled rangefinder 35mm camera. The Yashica Electro series was launched in 1966 and was the worlds first completely electronically controlled camera. This Japanese camera was very popular throughout the late 60s and 70s, and remains a popular model for…
What is it? This is an Argus C3 Matchmatic rangefinder camera made by the Argus Company in Ann Arbor, MI. The Argus C3 was in production from 1938 – 1966 making it the longest lived and best selling American made camera of all time. This C3 is the first old…
Today, I won an eBay auction for an antique Eastman Kodak folding camera. It’s a “No. 1A Pocket Kodak”. I paid $20 for it. From my research, this camera was sold from 1926 – 1932. Some sites say 1931, some 1932. Although it has the word “pocket” in its name,…
